It’s always fun to make butterflies as a craft activity. In this post I will be sharing a few ideas of different ways to make butterflies with your small children. These cute and unusual butterflies are great fun to make and use a variety of different techniques. Get your little one exploring natural materials and shapes as well as using paint, glue and paper.
In this post I discuss the following topics:
Leaf Butterflies
Age group: 2 years+
What you need:
Leaves (try to collect fresh ones with a pronounced vein structure. Dry leaves will crumble)
paint (in whatever colours you want the wings)
paper
glue
scissors
felt tip pens
foam pads used for dish washing
plates
What to do:
Make a paint ink pad by pouring some watered down paint onto a foam pad which is on a plate.
Press the leaf into the pad-veiny side down
Press the leaf onto a piece of paper.
Repeat until you have made many prints. You will need 4 per butterfly.
Cut out a rounded bottom triangle for the body and two strips for antennae
When the leaf prints are dry. cut them out.
Lay 4 leaves in a x shape and glue the body on top with the pointed end towards your body.
Add the antennae (curl the tips for a cute look) to the head using glue
Finish off your butterfly using felt tip pens to draw a face.
You can add glitter to the wings if you like a bit of sparkle.
TIP:
take some time to look a pictures of butterflies in books or on the internet.
Find out which ones are common to your area and see if you can spot them when you are out.
Look at their life cycle and find out what they eat
Visit a butterfly park/house if possible
Read books about Butterflies and Moths. There are some really cute ones about caterpillars in the kids section of most good libraries.
I am a preschool and primary school teacher and mum to 3 children. I have been involved in education since 1997 and have trained in a variety of educational specialist areas. It is with this expertise that I write articles to help parents and educators provide quality learning experiences for the children in their care.